Arts found to benefit troubled veterans

Psychotherapy remains the best treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, but many struggling veterans are also finding help from art and music therapy at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Coatesville, officials there say.

Veterans draw, paint, play the guitar and otherwise channel their feelings into art, said Jennifer Koehler, supervisor of recreation and art therapy.

That work is done in support of their psychotherapy, and it's effective for many of them, Koehler said.

"We'll hear comments from them like, 'This is one of the things that helped jump-start me,' " she said. "It's very meaningful."

The center started its art therapy five years ago and has expanded it. There is an art therapist and a music therapist on staff, and the center regularly hosts volunteers from the Guitars for Vets program, which helps ailing veterans heal through music instruction.

Last year, 53 of Coatesville's PTSD patients went through the program and many found it helpful, Koehler said.

While many with PTSD are slow to talk about their painful memories, art and music can be an easier way for them to find and express their feelings, helping them to open up to therapists, she said.

"They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, and for some of our veterans, that's true," she said. "It's a good way to get thoughts and feelings outside of your body."